Palm Treo 800w spotted in new pics, price and release date rumored

Well folks, it's real... and it's in the wild. You can get a better idea about the size from these photos, but unfortunately it's looking about as clunky and dated as what we've seen previously (in spy shots and flashed on the screen during Gates' CES keynote). Sprint users, lucky you. Hey, at least it's not this thing.

Update: According to our friends at WMExperts, the 800w is rumored to be heading onto store shelves come July 13th, with a price tag of $249.99 (after instant discount and mail-in rebate). Of course, there's no confirmation on that just yet, so don't place any bets.

[Thanks, Surur]

[Shaky Handstoo @ Jun 5th 2008 8:54AM]

Must be real - it's out of focus!

[Wayne @ Jun 5th 2008 12:37PM]

I'm seriously starting to think that all leaked photos are taken by people with hyperopia.

[ChillyWilly @ Jun 6th 2008 10:49AM]

Looks real to me... at least until someone dissects the photo for any PS tampering.

I think it looks good. At least they used a 755p/750 keyboard and not the Centro keyboard.

[Saad Rabia @ Jun 5th 2008 9:01AM]

Do they still manufacture such mobile devices?!!

[Juice @ Jun 5th 2008 9:03AM]

As long as the screen is good and BRIGHT I could possibly like this. The 750 screen on max brightness was dismal. My Kaiser on half brightness was almost double the max on the 750.

[Juice @ Jun 5th 2008 9:05AM]

What happened to the 850 with the flush screen?

http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=5391

[Juice @ Jun 5th 2008 9:05AM]

My bad this is the 800...

[Heath Stahl @ Jun 5th 2008 9:08AM]

Hey Palm, 2004 called and it wants its phone back.

[TRLK @ Jun 5th 2008 9:14AM]

Any chance that thing will get Palm OS? Only because nothing, and I mean nothing, beats palm on basic PIMS, not even the iphone

[tekdroid @ Jun 5th 2008 9:15AM]

Clunky and dated? I've seen a fair few smartphones look far worse than this. We are just talking looks, right?

[TareX @ Jun 5th 2008 9:17AM]

Every phone has a customer. The only customer I see for these phones are moderately successful multinational companies buying truckloads of these "functional, yet ugly" phones for their employees to us in business.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jun 5th 2008 9:18AM]

What's the purpose of this Treo 800w? StyleTap has officially introduced a Palm emulator for the iPhone. And then you won't even need WinMo.

That Treo 800w doesn't look that much different from a Palm Centro, but it does look better.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/23/palm-emulated-on-the-iphone-finally-we-can-leave-that-iiic-at-h/

************************************************************************
Five days and counting down to world domination. 3G iPhone and Snow Leopard

[Kate @ Jun 5th 2008 9:29AM]

You know this phone is running Windows Mobile and no Palm OS right?

[packetsniffer @ Jun 5th 2008 10:16AM]

I think someone's confused.

[OnlyShawn @ Jun 5th 2008 10:34AM]

kate, you silly girl.

[Joe @ Jun 5th 2008 9:28AM]

Wow ... it looks all innovative and everything. Oh wait, this is 2008. Never mind.

[Ian @ Jun 5th 2008 9:38AM]

Blurry photo? Check....

[Josh @ Jun 5th 2008 9:42AM]

I honestly don't get it, these people can afford to get the latest tech (even if by slightly shady means) but they can't afford a good digital camera?

[foodle @ Jun 5th 2008 10:16AM]

Since the carpet and Sprint table cloth are in focus, I think it's more the case that while they can afford the latest equipment, they don't know how to use it. Most likely, they were holding the phone too close to the camera.

[chefgon_ign @ Jun 5th 2008 10:43AM]

This looks an awful lot like a picture from your standard non-flash camera phone. It probably looked pretty sharp on the little phone screen after he shot the picture.

[PS3guy @ Jun 5th 2008 10:04AM]

Yawnnnnnnnn......boring..........next

[Vidit Bhargava @ Jun 5th 2008 10:10AM]

will anybody even look at these over the Diamond, X1 or the iPhone 3G??? now that they run WinMo...they come equal to other WinMo phones...whatever happened to Palm OS...

[packetsniffer @ Jun 5th 2008 10:17AM]

Nothing ever happened to Palm OS, that's the problem.

[Shola @ Jun 5th 2008 10:28AM]

Am i the only one who thinks its uuugggglyyyyyy?

[flooty333 @ Jun 5th 2008 11:18AM]

Ummmm.... have u been reading the last 20 posts before yours?

[bob cobb @ Jun 5th 2008 10:33AM]

I can't believe I was actually thinking about getting that. The screen is so damn small. 3g iPhone it is I guess

[Lein @ Jun 5th 2008 10:42AM]

Dated? Clunky? Those traits don't seem to stop Lenovo from selling ThinkPads...

That said, with sleeker, smaller, and more-powerful devices on their way from HTC, Apple and others, it's not hard to say that Palm definitely missed the release window by about six months. Although you could argue that the 800w would be the best out of the Touch Diamond, Touch Pro, and iPhone for one-handed operation.

[Brenen Hofstadter @ Jun 5th 2008 10:44AM]

Not very cutting edge.
Brenan Hofstadter

[tartis99 @ Jun 5th 2008 11:10AM]

Looks pretty good. Not everyone wants a phone without a keyboard on the face. that is why Blackberry is so popular with the Enterprise market. Not too good for business without one-handed-operation. Typing while driving still exists.

[SOG @ Jun 5th 2008 12:44PM]

Having separate work phone and ipod makes a lot of sense. Specs on this are very, very nice.

[backbeat @ Jun 5th 2008 1:39PM]

As long as Palm is entrenched in their religion of "The Treo was, is, and always only be a candybar form", they will continue to go swirling round-and-round the bowl until gravity mercifully wins.

[Juice @ Jun 5th 2008 2:17PM]

About 89% of all people who say they're getting a 3G iPhone aren't. They're broke, they can't afford one.

[JozJonlin @ Jun 5th 2008 5:27PM]

Clunky and Dated? Come on Topolsky, it's not as bad as all that. Sure, I'd love to have an updated Palm form factor, along the lines of the Xperia, but it doesn't appear to be on the horizon any time soon.

In the meantime, I will enjoy the amazing amount of usability my Palm XT and 700P bring me on a daily basis.

[Ronald Quint @ Jun 7th 2008 12:11PM]

Why a blurry photo? Picture taken with a palm phone?

[brian @ Jun 25th 2008 11:50AM]

im excited about the launch of the 800w. I hav a centro now. I've had other smphones like the Q and a blackberry. As for you fashion phone users....the iphone and the Diamond rgood phones to show off at teh malland at parties. But Palm has always been the best in the PDA dept and now they will lead in the smartphone dept. Caus they are for buisness not for fashion.

[Brien @ Jun 27th 2008 2:36AM]

This phone looks pretty horrible. The form factor is right, keyboard candybars have won the War of the Thumbs. ...Some people just don't realize that yet.

The on-screen keyboard idea is cool, but the feedback you get from physical keys helps alot with typing without looking. ...Which is the goal of any right minded typist.

I mean, who looks while they type on their computer? ...Think, process, agree. ...Read on.

Slider keyboards suffer from a different problem. They're too large for quick one handed operation and too slow to access. Most the time you only need to hit one or two buttons. It's a pain having to open the keyboard for that. ...Usually it takes people about 3-5 seconds to open a slider and start typing. Keyboard candybar users usually start typing in under 1 second.

So, now that I've established why keyboard candybars will always rule, let me pull apart Treo's new phone...

1) I like that it's got GPS and WiFi. Those were two MUSTS.

2) I think it needs more memory, or even better, memory upgrade options. E.g. 256MB RAM model and 512MB RAM model. Extra bonus of RAM is that it increases battery life because it prevents the CPU from slamming the flash IO, etc.

3) It's ugly. Personally I want an EXTREAMLY simple looking smartphone. Give me all black rubberized phone with no flashy cheap silver/gold fixtures, and don't lite the whole keyboard -- just the letters.

4) No scroll wheel. Scroll wheels rock the house for some types of operations. Every phone should have one. ...Or something like a track-ball where a scroll wheel would go. You get the idea.

5) WE WANT A MINIMUM INSTALL VERSION. Right now people are screaming because they have to pay more from some vendors to get PCs without all the extra reseller crapware. Those people need to move their focus towards the cellular carriers. We want a Windows Mobile 6.1 that we can customize.

...We being; me, myself and I.

[Brien @ Jun 27th 2008 2:37AM]

I left out that this phone shouldn't have had such a shitty camera. No camera or a decent camera. We're sick of this CMOS bull$h!t. GIVE US THE CCD CHIPS!!!

[Brien @ Jun 27th 2008 2:50AM]

...One more thing. THE SCREEN NEEDS TO BE BRIGHTER.

The iPhone is around 160 lumens. Treo's are between 30-60 lumens. There is NO EXCUSE for this. All phones look lousy next to the iPhone PRIMARILY because their screen is brighter. ...Though the iPhone could make them look lousy for other reasons. ...Ehem, web browsing.

[brandon williams @ Jul 24th 2008 4:05PM]

I noticed that the treo 800w's screen isnt as bright as the mogul I owned before, but the screen is visible in direct sunlight where my mogul was unusable even when there was mediocre cloud cover.

posted from treo 800w in direct sunlight by the pool